A prostitute talks to a possible client in the streets of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The country's health ministry has pulled a campaign urging sex workersto use condoms after criticism from conservative lawmakers.

“I’m happy being a prostitute” was the slogan on a web campaign for International Prostitute Day that also encouraged sex workers to not be ashamed to seek medical treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.

The campaign was published on the health ministry’s website and social media sites last weekend, and has since provoked a wave of criticism, especially from evangelical legislators in Brazil’s congress.

Health Minister Alexandre Padilha, a rising star in the ruling Workers’ Party who is expected to run for governor of São Paulo state next year, said in a Twitter post late Tuesday that the campaign had gone ahead without his authorization.

In the tweet, Padilha said the decision to scrap the campaign “came before any protests for or against it.”